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Is Queen Katie fading? Fox News, too?
The CBS News publicity machine is churning out releases about Katie Couric’s impact on “The CBS Evening News.”
The first two weeks Couric anchored the broadcast, CBS catapulted from its perennial third place in the evening news race to first place. More than 10 million viewers tuned in to see the First Female Anchor of a Network Newscast during her first week (Sept. 5).
As expected, however, those initial ratings soon began to slide. CBS trickled down to 7.9 million viewers the second week and 7.7 million the third week. Now it looks as if Couric’s newscast will return to its No. 3 status.
Curiosity has worn off, the multimillion-dollar ad campaign that trumpeted her arrival has begun to wither and viewers, as they are wont to do, are returning to old habits. That means that NBC is again at the top of the evening news ratings, followed by ABC — and followed by CBS.
But CBS can take comfort in the knowledge that even in third place, the “Evening News with Katie Couric” has enjoyed double-digit gains from the Dan Rather era.
The latest release from CBS News crowed that Couric, despite ending her two-week reign as No. 1, has succeeded where others have failed. Historically, new anchors have caused ratings to drop — at least in the early going.
“Compared to the five anchor changes of the past two decades, Couric has dramatically reversed that pattern with the broadcast’s remarkable growth,” CBS’s release says.
Fox News turns 10 … and loses viewers
While Fox News is lighting its 10th birthday candles (Oct. 7 is the actual b’day) and crowing over its recent on-air showdown with Bill Clinton, the 2006 ratings are down 5 percent overall and 13 percent in prime time from last year.
Which is not to say that Fox News has lost its cable news dominance. It still handily beats closest competitor CNN on an average day by nearly 400,000 viewers.
But CNN, after toppling from No. 1 in the cable universe years ago, is happy to report an increase in its audience of 5 percent. It’s too soon to tell if this little shakeup means big changes are coming.
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